Boldly Going Pt III (Star Trek III: the Search for Spock, 1984)

So, as Leonard Nimoy grew older, he had a desire to direct. He set forth to get the option to direct the third film, and bring Spock back to the family.

Now, the Wrath of Khan ended with Spock sacrificing himself to save the crew of the Enterprise. They shot his casket to a nearby lifeless planet with the Genesis project.

Back on Earth, they discover that McCoy is… not himself. It is discovered that Spock actually transferred his soul into the body of Bones. The crew of the Enterprise steal their ship to head to the Genesis Planet and see what became of Spock’s body.

Meanwhile, Klingon Commander Kruge is convinced that Project Genesis was a federation weapon with the aims of destroying the Klingon Empire and he is determined to get ahold of the weapon.

Mr. Saavik and David are exploring the planet surface, noticing many anomalies. But then they discover a Vulcan child. They realize this is the body of Spock…and he is aging rapidly. The source of this is that he is connected to the planet itself, and the planet is coming apart at the seams.

It is interesting that while Klingon’s were always a threat, other than their brief appearance in the motion picture, this film is the one that sets them up as a bigger focus of hate for Kirk. Christopher Lloyd is great as our main villain, Commander Kruge. I am always amused that when they got movie budgets, the franchise remade the Klingon race. This has lead to all sorts of retcons (the most fun being the Deep Space 9 Tribble episode where Worf basically tells Sisko that the Klingon’s do not talk about it).

This one aims to be a bit smaller in scale, but it is exciting and a solid feature film debut for Nimoy as a director. DeForest Kelley is really entertaining as Bones, who is struggling with the second person occupying his body.

I feel bad for Nichelle Nichols, because at first she has a decent sized presence, but then she disappears after they take the Enterprise and shows up “at the rendezvous point” on Vulcan at the end.

I always remembered the Search for Spock as being a bit weaker than it actually is. And it certainly got treated as such with the old adage that the even numbered films are “the good ones”. But this is entertaining, and has some neat moments. And also begins the Star Trek trope of “We gotta blow up or crash the Enterprise!” But I like this entry.

June 4, 2020 0

Boldly Going Pt 2 (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, 1982)

After the slower first film, the creators sought to look back to the original series for inspiration. The came back to the first season episode Space Seed. In that episode, the Enterprise comes across a 20th Century ship adrift in space, the SS Botany Bay. The crew of the ship are revived and it is discovered they were genetically engineered super people led by Khan. Khan attempts mutiny, but after failing is left on a remote habitable planet with his followers.

Picking up just about fifteen years later, Chekov (now a Commander) is part of a team searching for a lifeless planet to be a part of an experiment known as the Genesis Project. The goal being instant terraforming that takes a lifeless planet or moon and makes it a living planet teeming with plant life. When Chekov and the Captain of the USS Reliant beam down to Ceti Alpha VI to verify if the life readings are correct. They find a lifeless planet of sand storms and…housing.

As they investigate, Chekov discovers that this is the remnants of the crew of the Botany Bay. But before they can get out and back to the ship, they discover that Khan is alive and well…and fueled by rage against James T. Kirk.

And so Khan sets in motion plans to use Chekov, Captain Terrell and the scientists they are working with to set a trap too torment and destroy Kirk.

The Wrath of Khan focuses on the aging cast dealing with personal fears of obsolescence and weaves it together with a revenge action story. Montalban returns to the role of Khan Noonien Singh and he seems to relish the opportunity to approach the character from a new perspective. No longer simply an arrogant leader impressed with his own “perfection”, he is now engulfed in the flames of anger and hatred singularly directed at the man who insulted his ego the most. This is a terrific performance.

The reveal that Kirk has a son, a son who hate the militaristic Federation and has no trust for them (believing they will take the Genesis Project and make it into a weapon) no less, forces a new look at Kirk. This seems like a big ret-con, but at the same time it works well here, as Kirk reveals he promised Carol, the mother of his son, to stay away. So David knows who Kirk is, and hates him. But he has no idea that Kirk is also his father.

The film also takes a heavy focus on the trio of Kirk, Spock and Bones. This really pays off in the end with a powerful sacrifice that carries the weight of over a dozen years. And while the film clearly hints the story is not over for these friends, it still hits with a heavy heart.

Nicholas Meyer manages to weave the personal stories in with the action with great skill. This film manages to tie with the TV series and have a sense of being an epic, yet keep it on a very personal level. The Wrath of Khan is the high water mark for Star Trek.

June 3, 2020 0

Boldly Going Pt 1 (Star Trek: The Motion Picture, 1979)

After the third season cancellation of the original Star Trek, Roddenberry tried to get various ideas off the ground, including a new Star Trek series. That idea morphed into the first Star Trek film.

Ten years later (give or take), the five year mission is over, Kirk was promoted, Spock went off to find himself and Bones walked away from Star Fleet. Uhura, Sulu and Chekov are still serving on the Enterprise.

When a mysterious cloud starts attacking everything that it comes in contact with, Admiral Kirk takes command of the Enterprise once more with his crew and some new faces as they go to try and make contact with the mysterious entity known as V’Ger.

The first outing starts a long running love affair within Trek to explore the future of AI and the ethics that surround it. V’Ger is revealed to be in search of its creator to commune and learn. The entity’s hostile acts are, in fact its attempts to communicate.

There are pretty much two big negatives for the film. One? The costume design is…terrible. Going from vibrant colored shirts to lifeless white and gray aesthetics, this is not an improvement. The film also tends to move at a glacial pace. When faced with a bigger budget and the competition of Star Wars, the film makers focus on long lingering space exterior shots.

On the other hand, the film is remarkable in its beauty. Those exteriors are a wonder, especially later in the film when they are interacting with V’Ger’s environment. It is nice to see the crew together again, and while I think they have done this story better since, there is still a sense of wonder in the first Star Trek theatrical outing.

June 2, 2020 0

Boldly Going: the Introduction

To be honest? I was always a Star Wars kid. At age five, I saw Star Wars and I was hooked. I also liked Star Trek…but it had ended before I was born. I discovered it through syndicated re-runs, and I thought it was kind of cool. I was more excited after I saw Wrath of Khan as a kid…that was a cool film.

I watched the Next Generation randomly, and enough to really like Picard, Data Worf and the other members of the crew. My favorite Star Trek was Deep Space Nine…but even there, I have only seen a random number of episodes. In fact, there is no Star Trek series I have watched every episode of. I might get through Picard soon.

But…I have seen every Star Trek film. And I only recently realized that I have only reviewed one Star Trek film. Star Trek Beyond. And I need to rectify that. Beyond was a fun film that I find very re-watchable.

So, let us fix this glaring gap. I have recently sat back down and watched every Star Trek movie from the Motion Picture to Beyond. And for the next three weeks I will give my thoughts on each film. So let us boldly go to where many have gone before…

June 1, 2020 0

To Infinity And… (Star Trek Beyond, 2016)

In the third film since J.J. Abrams rebooted the Star Trek Universe, we get an original story. And really? It is quite a bit of fun. It begins a bit shaky with attempts to give us brief character moments that are not entirely effective. It is nice to see McCoy taking a bigger role then the last film, and more of a focus on the friendship of he and Jim. And hey, they are actually in the midst of their five year mission of exploration! The previous two films were set before that.

We find James T. Kirk having lost his way in the far reaches of space. Not literally, but spiritually. He is not alone, Spock is having a personal crisis regarding his role on the enterprise versus feeling of obligation to his fellow Vulcans. While visiting a space station, they are contacted by an unfamiliar species, a captain who begs for help for her stranded ship. The Enterprise takes her out only to be attacked and (in the long standing tradition of Trek) destroyed. To be honest, this sequence gets a little boring as it seems endless and kind of confusing. But when the crew lands and is dispersed on a nearby planet, the film kicks into gear.

I was skeptical of bringing a director of the Fast and Furious (admittedly director of some of the best films in the franchise) in to direct. But Justin Lin shows a lot of skill at making an energetic sci-fi film. The villain’s full motives are mysterious at first, but when revealed it all falls into place.

Everyone’s performances are true to form and this feels like an action packed version of the original crew. It is not that much deeper than the previous two installments, but it is far more effective in it’s story telling. Personally, I found the interaction between Spock and McCoy tremendously enjoyable. they had nice moments of expression of concern and admiration as well as some entertaining banter. Kirk’s “ladies man” persona is downplayed in this film, he never even hits on Jaylah, the pretty alien girl.

If ranking the Altered Timeline films, I would say Beyond is easily the best as it hits it’s marks. The villain is a strong and compelling threat (something the previous entries suffered at) and the villains plan at least makes sense and is not entirely dependent on complete coincidence. Okay, maybe a slight coincidence. But I enjoyed Star Trek Beyond, and enjoyed it very much.

July 23, 2016 0